Adam & I stayed home to watch this year, just the two of us and a warm bowl of delicious, delicious poutine (thanks Rachel, for the ‘curds!). I’ve been wildly indifferent on this year’s films (and thus, Oscar nominees) overall, so my heart wasn’t in it for the flicks, for once. Here are my stray observations from this year’s pretty zippy Academy Awards telecast…

• I don’t have any strong feelings on Billy Crystal as a host. I don’t think I was old enough when he started to be really attached to him from a nostalgic standpoint, but I felt like like his jokes were slightly harsher “digs” than I expected from him as a comedian. Also 3 guys win “Best Documentary” and their mic gets cut off, but Crystal can mug for the camera and wait for the entire room to go silent continuously without problem? That said, we did avoid last year’s tragically disappointing Franco/Hathaway train wreck, so there’s that.
• I love Emma Stone (but only platonically, so @_WillieClark doesn’t punch me). She just seems to be having the time of her life in everything she does.
• People I know seem (rightly so) still confused on the difference between “Sound Editing” and “Sound Mixing.” In plain English, from In Contention: “Sound editing [...] concerns the manifestation of artificial sound effects and the overall manipulation of the sonic identity of a film. Sound mixing concerns the balance of those various elements, in addition to music and dialogue, as well as the on-the-set maintenance of production audio.”  Now you know!
• Similarly, I’ve also seen a lot of people asking about why there are only 2 “Original Song” nominees this year. The short answer is because the music branch is stupid and continually makes the rules stricter and stricter. The longer answer is that there are a lot of criteria the songs have to meet, including a rating system. This year the branch apparently only decided 2 were worthy. (Read a slightly more detailed account of the rationale over at Forbes)
• That said, “Man or Muppet” is my new theme song and I think it’s awesome, so I’m totally over the moon about Bret McKenzie’s win.

• I’ve deeply saddened over how few of the “Animated Feature” nominees I’ve seen (that number would be 1: “Rango”)
• Kudos to “Hugo” on its Cinematography, Art Direction, and Visual Effects wins. Just beautiful, beautiful work and possibly the best use of 3D / most worthy film of actually seeing it in 3D, in my opinion.
• “Best Actor” winner Jean Dujardin is immensely charming. I can’t help but like him.  If you haven’t seen his “Funny or Die” skit where he auditions for all the villain roles … ever … you need to stop what you’re doing and watch it now.
• The “Bridesmaids” ladies should hand out every award; I was worried Paltrow was gonna smack RDJ he was being so ridiculous; “Yay” Cirque du Soleil; WOW to J-Lo’s boobs and how close we were to serious nipple-age.

• It’s tough to argue with the Score win: “The Artist” is ALL score, ALL the time. It’s very effective, reflective of the time that it’s aiming for, and catchy. I’m just, personally, not terribly passionate about it. But composer Ludovic Bource was so respectful and genuine in his love for MUSIC (his shaking hands / hugging all his fellow nominees was score-geek heart-warming) that it’s tough to be even the slightest bit annoyed at his win.
• With Hans Zimmer having taken himself out of the running entirely this year, it was neat to hear he’d be taking over Co-Music Supervisor at the show, alongside Pharrell Williams. I was intrigued with what they’d do, and I have to say I thought it was pretty outstanding. The more traditional orchestra down in the pit (there were a couple shots of Zimmer himself on guitar), with featured musicians in an “all-star” band up in the box-seat area who rotated throughout the show (dummer Shelia E. & Williams on percussion, with DJ Junkie XL, composer A.R. Rahman, and others) I thought brought a lot of interesting character to the show. It was energetic, a fair amount of it was Zimmer original, and the rest was very reverential and accompanied the show as usual for the music.
• I also think that the addition of music beats was one of the reasons (along with fewer “show-y” interruptions) that the show felt a little bit zippy-er, moved a little quicker this year (hell, they finished just past 11:30, which I’m curious to see how it compared to the last 5 years).
• That said, there were several times they needed to TURN IT DOWN a notch. I love me some movie music, but if you’re drowning out the host or the presenters and I can’t hear the people on stage, we’ve got a problem.

• The music, design, sound clips choices… everything about the In Memoriam segment was just beautifully done. (I thought I saw in the quick credits that the segment was designed by Prologue Films’ Kyle Cooper, but it went by too quickly to be sure…)
• Speaking of the show itself & it’s production, I thought the sets were pretty awesome. Interesting projection tech, I liked the giant Easter-Island-Oscar-Busts, and thought The Mill did a nice job on the motion packages they worked on. The “Adapted Screenplay” title cards – nodding to the minimalist film poster trend – were particularly lovely.
• And finally, on local matters: The Channel 13 “50 years” commercial was A-MAZINGLY hilarious, in all the right ways. I loved all the stock-Rochester footage (from the 70s/80s?): specifically, how much snowmobile-flying-through-the-air footage does Channel 13 have in their archives? Also, WHERE did that song come from, and to paraphrase @karaaustin: “Why have I never heard that before?” Props to them for going all the way on insane amounts of nostalgia; it was a lot of goofy fun. (Maybe @kathylaluk can shed s’more light on this?)
• To all those who were upset by Crystal’s “Chapter 11 Theater” Kodak jab: Umm, did you think that WASN’T going to happen? I maintain that I thought his jokes were a little more dig-heavy tonight, but Kodak’s bankruptcy announcement couldn’t have come at a worse time, in terms of onscreen publicity, and their logo is on the FRONT of the BUILDING; Kodak’s been an integral part to the history of film, and this is international news. But there’s no GOOD news about it, yet, so frankly I’m a bit surprised it was only mentioned twice.

I’m not equipped to comment on the red carpet “fashion,” but is there anything else people really liked or hated?

Back in April 2010, Rachel, Kevin, Adam & I drove up to Chimney Bluffs State Park to check it out (I’d always heard of it, but had never been). We hiked late into the afternoon and walked along the water on our way back – a really peaceful, lovely way to spend several hours. I was camera-less at the time, so Rachel let me borrow her ole’ point-and-shoot which I proceeded to fill with pictures. I also shot a bunch of video which, now that I’ve joined the Mac cult this week, I was finally able to edit at home. It’s pretty low-res, but I’m really happy with it because, to me, it very accurately represents how I was feeling that day (no small thanks to Bon Iver / Adam for suggesting music until we got to this). Lookin’ forward to unearthing the rest of my old videos & merging “occasional” video back into my life from now on. Watch the ~2-minute lil’ video after the jump.

See the full tracklist over at my Mix CDs site

I have a helluva lot of respect (and envy) for people who can pop out really great mixes every month (I’m looking at you, Todd!). Me? I’m lucky to get one halfway decent one out a year. Case in point: some of the tracks on this mix have been on my “for next mix” playlist since early 2008. I’m mad slow, but hopefully it’s worth the wait! And really, this just means these are the best of the best because they’ve weathered the years, right? Right. Centered around the feeling of late fall / early winter here in the Northeast, it’s got some crunchy-brown, quiet slate, and chilly gray to accompany your end of the week.

Listen Now! via 8tracks.com

DOWNLOAD | 17 tracks, MP3, 106 MB ZIP file
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It’s tough to photograph food that you desperately want to eat. It’s even worse to photograph food that other people really want to eat. For both reasons it’s difficult to photograph anything we’ve ever made out of the Baked cookbooks. Adam saw the original, Baked, on the shelf at Borders and bought it on a whim. It made such delicious desserts that we picked up the sequel, Baked Explorations, the week it came out, and boy if they haven’t been worth every penny. Just about every recipe we’ve made from them has been amazing, so they’ve become our go-to books for dessert recipes. Below are some of the hastily-photo’d-to-get-on-with-the-eatin’ recipes we’ve made outta the Baked books over the last two years.

(left) Root Beer Bundt Cake (right) The Baked Brownie (with butterscotch skeletons, for Katie’s birthday)

Peach & Plum Crisp (the original recipe called for pears, not peaches)

Sawdust Pie. A caramel-coconut-nut mixture, made for the Bedgemog’s birthday.

Diner-Style Chocolate Pie. Adam brought this to his family’s Thanksgiving one year.

Sunday Night Cake. Adam and I made this for the “Top Chef: Desserts” finale party in honor of contestant Eric the baker, who’s credited with this recipe.

Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake. I brought this to my family’s Thanksgiving last year.

(left) Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins (right) Buttermilk-Maple Pie. These are the two dishes we brought to Thanksgiving this year.

We’ve also made a couple of birthday cakes, cookies, and cupcakes out of the books, as well, but none of those lasted long enough to be photographed properly. I think that’s all the recommendation you really need.

Baked: New Frontiers in Baking (Amazon)
Baked Explorations (Amazon)

This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for the comforts I take for granted, however large or small, the fact that I am pretty darn happy with my life right now, and for the support & good times I’ve enjoyed with my friends and family. As I dig through my hard drives for photos & videos to edit, it’s really great to see again and again how many awesome people I know and how much fun we’ve had together.

Every once in awhile I’ve shot some video during events / gatherings over the years, but most of it has never seen the light of day before. Max was kind enough to let me borrow his laptop for a night so I could use iMovie and continue my return into the dark world of video editing with footage from two of these events: the 2010 trip to Comic-Con and a murder mystery at Christi & Rocky’s.

I didn’t shoot much footage during my last trip to San Diego in 2010. In fact, Comic-Con, which made up the vast majority of the trip, whizzes by as a queue line, an Ugly Doll, and a crowd in the Exhibition Hall in the video. But every time I pulled out the camera and shot video is here, cobbled together for a one-minute nostalgia-for-California-fest. I’m crazy-excited to return next summer: Con is fun, California is fun, and we’ll have the best travel-buddies ever in Matt & Kara, Anna, & new-addition Molly!

For our January 2011 “monthly” group gathering, Christi & Rocky hosted a murder mystery at their apartment. Everyone got parts, name tags, and notes about our characters to read aloud. Then away we went! A lot of discussion about who shot who, who was in a relationship with who, and whether or not any of us actually liked “Hal Capone” ensured… until the killer among us was finally revealed!

Back in October, I helped Adam with the photography for one of his Typography class assignments. The corn syrup blood wasn’t as thick as we were expecting. Despite wanting to leave it for some unsuspecting bathroom patrons, he did clean it up.

While waiting for a photo subject this morning, I stood around with a crossing guard who struck up a conversation. Adele (her name’s been changed) asked “Are you voting next week?” I said “yes” and returned the question, to which she very resentfully said “no.”

Me: Why not?
Adele: It doesn’t matter if I do. They’ll keep Maggie there no matter what.
Me: Maggie… Brooks?
Adele: Yes. Her. (She spits on the sidewalk)
Me: I take it you don’t like her.
Adele: It doesn’t matter if I do. They’ll keep her. She’s terrible.
Me: They’ll only keep her if people vote for her. You should vote!
Adele: Pffft. It doesn’t matter. They’ll keep her.
Me: Are you sure? I’m pretty sure it’s a ‘majority-rule’ sort of deal. They can’t keep her if she’s voted out.
Adele: Boy, what sort of world are you living in?

* * * * * * * *

Later…
Adele: Where do you buy your bread?
Me: Uhh, mostly at Wegmans.
Adele: Why?! It’s so expensive!
Me: I don’t think between $1 and $2 for a loaf of sandwich bread is too bad.
Adele: I’m the cheapest person in Rochester. I won’t spend more than 88 cents on bread now that they tax it.
Me: I’m pretty sure they don’t tax bread.
Adele: Oh they do! They just started!
Me: Oh yeah? Aren’t all essential grocery items supposed to be tax-free?
Adele: They’re not! I can’t buy my Snickers, my bottled water, or my pot anymore without paying tax.
Me: Wait, you’re paying tax on your pot?
Adele: Yeah, just started this week.
Me: I had no idea.
Adele: Goddamn Maggie.

For Katie’s birthday, we took a beautiful walk around Mt Hope Cemetery. Fall is definitely the mandatory time to visit: the leaves are bursting with color and the graves are spooky. Together they encapsulate why October is the best month of the year.

(more shots on Flickr)

I always doodle more layouts for CITY’s annual “Best of Rochester” issue than any other all year. This one’s for the “Introduction” page in 2009.

“Sunday Sketch” – pairing a sketch with the final image it resulted in – is a way for me to get my terribly lumpy doodles outta my notebooks and onto the web where they can run free.

Once I found out that I had the option to build a fort out of sheets and pillows for CITY’s “Winter Guide 2011″, there really wasn’t any choice but to make it happen.

I hope to make “Sunday Sketch” – pairing a sketch with the final image it resulted in – a reoccurring series since my terribly lumpy doodles constantly crack me up.